


Pretend

by parkattack



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Homophobic Language, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-05
Updated: 2015-12-05
Packaged: 2018-05-05 02:19:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5357264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parkattack/pseuds/parkattack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taking place in an alternate universe where Arin and Dan become college freshmen roommates, the two form a bond that will not only define their college experience, but the rest of their lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pretend

**Author's Note:**

> tw: swearing, reference to underage drinking, ablist slurs, homophobic slur

Arin had big dreams for college. Besides art, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to study, he just knew that being enrolled would keep him safe and far from home for at least four years. He had applied everywhere he knew he would get a scholarship and much to his delight, there were quite a few schools who were offering a full ride based on the portfolios he already submitted. For the first time in his life, Arin felt like he had the world on a string.

In the end, he decided on a small school he had never even heard of before. Everything else felt too similar to what he was trying to escape. He imagined all the friends he would make in a place where no one already knew him, the art he would finally have all the time in the world for.

But somehow he managed to forget he had a roommate until he received an email telling him all about one Mr. Dan Avidan. He had only ever shared his room with one other person before and that had been his older brother who was almost as bad as mom. In his rational brain, he knew that the chances of his roommate being that terrible was slim to none, but that didn’t stop the wave of anxiety that shook his whole body with fear.

He tried to find hope in the short bio attached to the profile. Dan was going to be a vocal major, grew up in Jersey, and if he had written this himself seemed like an incredibly cheerful guy. If that were true, maybe things wouldn’t be so bad, but he still had a lot of hold ups about sharing a room with someone. He had already kept enough secrets for one lifetime; he had a hard time imagining keeping himself totally hidden from those around him for another whole year.

Reading through the email again, he noticed there was a phone number listed. Did that mean this guy had his number too? Of course it did, what else could it mean? He considered shutting his phone off. He could manage without it for the next two weeks, right?

Arin shook his head; he was being ridiculous. Thinking so negatively wasn’t going to make the situation any better. He had to give this guy a fair chance before Arin wrote him off, even if for only his own sake.

But these worries held onto him even as he was packing for the move. He had a cardboard box filled with his favorite clothes and anime figures hidden under his bed. In this house, anything that went against the norm was strictly considered contraband and pink and anime were apparently not things that “normal boys” liked. It always worried Arin to think that she didn’t even know the half of it.

Gathering his courage, Arin pushed away all the junk he used to hide his stash. It would be a tight squeeze, but he could make it work. Nearly two decades of Tetris weren’t about to fail him now. Once he fit the box in place, he covered them with a few layers of shirts so that any prying eyes wouldn’t be able to see it at first glance. It didn’t provide much protection, but it made him feel more secure. He tucked the rolling suitcase back into closet, where he hoped it would be safe over night.

He changed into an old t-shirt and his flannel pajama bottoms and got into bed. It wasn’t super late, but it was already dark and Arin wanted to fall asleep before his brother came upstairs from his Call of Duty marathon. More often than not, that would spare him the displeasure of having to deal with him when he finally decided to go to bed.

Checking under this pillow, he found his train ticket right where he had left it. It was enough of a surprise that his mother was letting him travel alone, let alone that it hadn’t disappeared in the time since he had picked it up from the station. He smiled as he dreamily fiddled with the crisp corner of the thick paper. To think there was so much potential stored inside. Tomorrow he would start tapping into it.

\---

The next day, on the ride to the station, Arin wondered how his mother and brother could hurt him so much on such a long-awaited day. He wasn’t really surprised; he just found it especially disheartening on today of all days.

“I can’t believe you’re letting him go to art school. I thought you didn’t want him to turn into a fag.” His brother was riding shotgun, texting away to who knows who.

“Shut up. At least he’s doing something with his life.” Nothing was said after that. At least nothing that was acknowledged, but he was almost certain he heard his mother mutter, “I tried my best with him, anyway. No helping it now.”

His departure wasn’t given much pomp and circumstance. They pulled up to the station just as the train was and his brother didn’t even get out of the car. Just as he was about the jump aboard, however, his mother hugged him close, without even saying anything. It wasn’t cold, though. In fact, it brought him painfully back to the days when things weren’t shit, when they were both so excited for things like the first day of school.

Then their contact was over. Before Arin fully realized what happened, he was already seated on the train, watching the station slowly slide out of view.

\---

The campus must have been really close to the station because the whole area was swarming with students when Arin arrived in town around 3 o’clock. He felt like he had never seen so many people in one place and the feeling was a bit overwhelming, but nearly everyone he could see was smiling or laughing so the feeling of unease didn’t last for long.

He fell into one of the swarms of people, joining the great migration into the dorms. His was on the far east side of campus, which apparently where most of the fine arts students lived. At least he’d be living among like-minded people.

The walk was filled with trees that looked nearly ancient, some of having already begun to change in color. He noticed on one side of the street a park and, on the other side, a cluster of buildings - a comic book store and tea shop, to name two - that he made a mental note to visit as soon as possible. Photography students were already busy with their clacking frames, while groups of young men gathered in circles to pass around a frisbee. It warmed Arin’s heart to see so many people excited to be here. He could be just as happy, couldn’t he?

Check in and key pick up was in his dorm’s front lobby. All the RAs were equipped with clipboards and pamphlets, answering questions for parents ask making sure everyone found their way to their room without getting lost. Arin snuck a peek at the list of names when he went to pick up his key and saw that Dan had already signed for his. Okay, enough worrying. This was the day he started over back at page one.

He declined any help to find his room in favor of moving along at his own speed. He wanted to steal glances into people’s rooms, listen to the conversations of his future classmates. He didn’t want to seem creepy, but he was painfully curious about these people he was about to live with. Of course these were only the art students, but he was already feeling more at home among the brightly dyed hair and talk of obscure anime. He finally didn’t feel like the odd one out.

Coming up on his door, Arin took a moment to collect his thoughts. He knew their was a friendly, outgoing individual hidden somewhere within the walls he had built over the last seventeen years.

He took half a step towards the door and it swung wide open. Arin’s eyes went wide as an absurdly tall young man with curls for days stepped out into the hallway. They made eye contact and made apparently opposite faces; Arin looked utterly terrified, while Dan’s face broke out in a smile.

“Sorry to spook you, man! Arin, right?” Dan stuck out a hand, which Arin accepted, returning a meek smile.

“Yeah, that must make you Dan.”

“Sure am! Lemme help you with you stuff.” Dan took the handle of Arin’s bag before he could protest. He wondered what kind of person would help someone carry just one piece of luggage as he followed Dan into the room.

So far, Dan had covered his half of the room in a variety of posters and had stacks of books and CDs all over his desk. A small lockbox sat on the edge of his bed, which was made not-so-neatly with a set of light blue flannel sheets.

“Sorry I already took over one side, but they’re literally exactly the same, so I figured you wouldn’t mind. You wanna bunk or nah?”

Arin laughed nervously. “Is it okay if we don’t? Eightteen years sleeping in the same room as my older brother, you know?”

Dan smiled understandingly. “I grew up with a sister. You won’t hear me complaining about having my own space.”

He wheeled Arin’s suitcase over to the end of Arin’s bed and left it there. He returned to his bed and hadn’t been there long before he had a moment of realization. “Hey, so I was just about to go to the store. Do you need me to grab anything?” He hadn’t said anything to this effect, but Arin, the introvert who was so used to watching people, caught the momentary sidelong glance Dan took of his single suitcase. Obviously he was curious, if not concerned. God, this was embarrassing.

Completely deadpan, Arin replied, “yeah, like a forty pack of condoms and a bottle of Astroglide. That should last me the week.”

Dan was familiar with that brand of humor. It was meant to be distancing, but he couldn’t help but find it hilarious. “I love it,” he laughed, checking his pockets for phone, wallet, keys. “Okay, I’ll be back soon!” He gave Arin a little wave as he slid out the door, still smiling wide from his fit of laughter, closing the door behind him.

“Cool,” Arin leaned against the frame of his own unmade bed and stared at the floor. He wondered if he had just made a new friend or a new enemy. He knew his humor was abrasive to a lot of people. It had cost him a lot of friends in high school and he didn’t think he could go through another four years like that.

But Dan had laughed and maybe he was the type to laugh with someone, rather than at them. Instinctively, Arin felt like that was the case. He’d never met a jerk who smiled like that before, so maybe things would turn out alright.

He went to his suitcase, laid it down on it’s side, and undid the zipper. Inside were just the bare essentials: a set of sheets, a blanket, a few pairs of t-shirts and jeans, toothbrush and toothpaste, laptop, and his GameCube with a few games. He had his 3DS too, in the pocket of his hoodie, but the GameCube was the only console his brother would let him take, even though they all technically belonged to him.

And then, of course, there was his secret box. Would he need to find a place to hide it here? Dan didn’t seem like the type to judge, but years of having to be obsessively secretive made it difficult to trust a stranger, no matter how nice their smile was.

He decided to shoot for a middle ground and pushed it to the back of a drawer in the dresser the school provided for him. It wasn’t immediately obvious, but it also didn’t look like he was trying to hide anything. He figured he could always start unpacking it and mixing it in with the rest of his things throughout the year.

After fussing with the box for a while longer, he forced himself to move on. He wanted to at least have his bed made before Dan got back. He worked at it half-heartedly, distracted by a million little things. The dorm was filled with the sounds of families saying goodbye to their children and the laughter of students who were already making new friends. Had Dan’s parents dropped him off?

Arin shook his head, shaking the thought away. If he was going to get along with anyone this year, he needed to stop being so paranoid.

It wasn’t too much later after Arin had finished putting the bed together that Dan was already back. Arin looked up from his spot on the bed where he was sitting when the door opened.

“There’s a convenience store right around the corner and they have a stupid amount of liquor. They certainly know their market,” Dan said with a hint of amusement as he rummaged around in one of the plastic bags he had carried in. “Sir, I present you with your bounty!”

Dan held out the comically large box of condoms and an equally absurd bottle of lube. Arin couldn’t help but stare in amazement. No one had ever played along with his jokes before. He cracked a smile as he accepted the items, though honestly he had no idea what to do with them.

“Fuck yeah,” he muttered to himself, before address Dan again. “Thanks, man, this should last me the week, maybe week and a half.”

Apparently Dan thought Arin was the funniest person ever because he broke out in another belly laugh. He had the squeakiest belly laugh he had ever heard, especially for a guy of his stature. Arin didn’t mind, though; it was unique and he found that kind of cute.

 _In a friend way, of course_ , he subconsciously reminded himself.

He tucked the risqué items under his bed as he listened to Dan rely the intel he had overheard during his errand. “Apparently there's a real rager going on tonight, if you wanna go. It sounds like the perfect way to consummate our roommateship. And the ladies who were talking about it were _fiiiiine_.”

Arin raised his eyebrows. He had never been to a party before and the idea made him nervous. Especially because he'd never drank before, let alone even getting close to “getting with” a girl. Did Dan really think he could pull something like that off?

“I-I dunno, man…”

Arin barely managed to get his thought out before Danny enthusiastically replied. “C’mon, don't make me peer pressure you. It'll be fun! I'm an excellent wingman,” he added with an eyebrow waggle.

“I appreciate it, but I stayed up really late last night packing.” It was obviously a lie. Dan didn't even need to take another glance at Arin’s single suitcase for Arin to know how unconvinced he was.

But to his surprise, Dan didn't comment on it. His goofy smile didn't even waver. “Alright, that's fine! We’ll do something to celebrate whenever you're feeling up to it. Do you mind if I go?”

“Naw, go for it! Don't let me cockblock you,” Arin answered with a chuckle. Dan’s ultra-chill attitude was already starting to put Arin at ease, even if he didn't realize it.

Noticing the modest tv Dan had set up towards the middle of the room, Arin had an idea. “Hey, you wanna play my GameCube for a while before dinner?”

“What the hell is a GameCube?” Dan looked like Arin had just spoken a foreign language, though he looked just as intrigued as he was confused.

“What the fuck, are you serious?” Arin couldn't believe there was a human older than 15 on this earth that didn't know what a GameCube was. “And I thought my childhood was messed up.”

He hopped down from the bed and started gathering together everything for the console. “Is the tv plugged in?” He asked, too busy untangling all the cords to look for himself. Dan made an affirmative noise as he watched Arin in fascination. In his house, the closest thing he ever had to video games was the Tamagochi he had “borrowed” from his sister after she abandoned it.

In no time, Arin had everything up and running and the familiar jingle of the system starting up filled both boys with glee. Arin explained to Dan the basics of the controller, which seemed a bit like rocket science to Dan at first. And even though Dan struggled at first, he found the game incredibly charming and couldn’t believe he had missed out on such an amazing invention for all his life. He became utterly absorbed in this new world Arin was showing him, which seemed to have a hundred colors he had never seen before.

They were so caught up with the game, they nearly missed dining hall hours. They managed to get in just in the nick of time, though. Over their meal, Arin caught Dan up on the last twenty or so years of gaming while Dan stuffed himself with as much pizza as he could in preparation for the party tonight.

Dan took off soon after to mingle with some folks he found were also going to the party. Arin took the bittersweet opportunity of being alone to make their room feel a little more comfortable. After he got his clothes put away, there wasn’t much to be done, but he decided to give Dan’s acceptance a test and bring out one of his figures to display. Plus, his side of the room was practically monochrome in comparison to all the decorations Dan had already put up. He would rather look like a nerd than an emotionless psychopath.

He chose his favorite, since if Dan couldn’t accept that Arin loved Sailor Moon they would never get along anyway. He carefully removed Usagi from his cardboard box. He always envied how comfortable and confident she looked in this particular one with her long, flowing hair, adorable outfit, and beautiful crescent moon in which she was reclining.

His eyes strayed to the pink shirt that was sitting in the box right below where the figure was. Everyone was probably off campus at the moment for one party or another. And he thought he saw the stairwell leading to the roof on his way to their room. Maybe he would change and go out in public (or close enough) wearing what he wanted for the first time ever. There was no one to tell him no. That was half the reason he had gone to college in the first place.

With a quick, nervous glance towards the door, he changed his shirt with record speed and slipped a hoodie on, zipping it up to his neck. He promised himself he’d take the hoodie off once he got up there.

\---

The skyline from the roof was far more impressive than the views from the ground had led him to believe. Most of the lights came from the skyscrapers and radio towers which twinkled beautifully in the distance. On the horizon, he spotted the highway where high beams created streaks of light going east and west. Perhaps a few miles away, a train was blasted its horn which echoed harmonically through the city.

Arin undid the zipper of his hoodie and leaned against the simple iron guard rail. In times like these, he was thankful he had discovered his love of rooftops. Towards the end of one middle school summer - he couldn’t remember which now - he would spend almost every night watching the city from the top of a parking garage on the other side of town from home. It was a nice excuse to not be home and the view was never anything to complain about.

He hadn’t noticed he was spacing out until he heard the stairwell door open and nearly jumped a foot off the ground.

“I’m gonna give you a heart attack before the end of the week,” Dan was laughing again, softly this time, obviously feeling a bit guilty for somehow managing to sneak up on Arin so much.

“Don’t worry about it, man, I’m easy to spook.” It took Arin a minute to realize that Dan had barely been gone an hour. “What’re you doing back already?”

Dan stood next to Arin by the railing. “The people I was hanging out with were fucking pricks, so fuck ‘em. I’ll catch another one.”

A few moments of silence between them, Arin thought to ask, “did you know I was up here?”

“Oh god no!” Dan covered his mouth in comedic shock. “Wow, I _promise_ I’m not a stalker! I came up here to have a moment of calm. What about you?”

“Same, I guess…” They lapsed into silence again and Arin wasn’t sure if he should feel awkward or not.

“I can give you some space. You were here first, after all.”

“No! No, it’s okay. It’s kinda nice to like… be sharing this for once.” Arin looked over at Dan, only to find that Dan was already looking over at him.

Dan raised a seductive eyebrow. “I think we just consummated our roommateship.”

**Author's Note:**

> like, comment, and subscribe if you want me to write the next chapter ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


End file.
